My Chihuahua (male) has a hunchback recently, and he screams (hurts) when he holds it. Is it cervical spondylosis?

Diagnosis and treatment of disc herniation

Intervertebral disc herniation is a disease characterized by dyskinesia, which is caused by the deformation of intervertebral disc and the compression of spinal cord.

Etiology: It can be considered that intervertebral disc degeneration is the basic factor of this disease. Because of this potential factor, animals may get sick when they encounter any external force acting on the spine. These pathogenic external factors include animals jumping from heights, often going up and down stairs, running and jumping while playing, etc. Land on your hind legs and stand upright. Suddenly fell on the smooth floor and waited. After the animals are subjected to the above external forces, the intervertebral discs are damaged, and they often scream because of pain, and gradually appear to be slow to move. Like lying still, low back pain, weakness and swaying of hind limbs, and some cases quickly appear paralysis of hind limbs. The disease is common in dachshunds, Beijing dogs, stone dogs, Marzi dogs, French bulldogs, Beagle dogs, American cocker spaniel and French Baggio dogs.

Symptoms: Most of them are sudden onset. It is characterized by hunchback, abdominal restraint, unwillingness to walk, stumbling, dragging or paralysis of both hind legs, difficulty in defecation or incontinence. There is a painful reaction when touching and pressing the back. Cervical disc herniation is characterized by large head and neck movement resistance; Thoracolumbar disc herniation is characterized by refusing to go up and down the steps.

Diagnosis: According to clinical symptoms, it is not difficult to make a diagnosis. X-ray and myelography are needed for diagnosis. X-ray photography, taking two photos of lateral decubitus and dorsal abdomen, shows that the X-ray permeability of herniated intervertebral disc is reduced, and the abnormality of intervertebral disc from the second half of thoracic vertebra to the beginning of lumbar vertebra is more common.

Treatment: The therapeutic effect depends on the scope and nature of the lesion. Acute ascending myelomalacia is ineffective in dogs and often ends in death. Some paraplegia cases are difficult to recover after conservative treatment, and fecal and urinary accumulation should be eliminated in time on the basis of proper rest, supplementary nutrition or acupuncture treatment.

According to statistics, from June 6th to September, Beijing Aibo Animal Hospital treated 49 patients with this disease. Among them, there are 40 cases of Beijing bar, and the onset age ranges from 2 months to 3 years old. The attending doctor passed the symptomatic treatment. Supportive therapy and nutritional therapy, combined with acupoint injection, generally improved significantly in 1-3 days. According to the statistical results, the cure rate is over 90% and the effective rate is 100%. If your pet suspects this disease, please go to the animal hospital for treatment in time.

(quoted from the POPC forum, the source address/BBS/thread-245136-1-kloc-0/.html contains multiple cases. If you don't think so, you can check it yourself. )

I wish your dog a speedy recovery ~ ~